Married couple realized they had already met 11 years ago when they saw this photo

When you're single, it's strange to think that you could bump into the love of your life at any moment. While we can control who we talk to, flirt with, or ask out, there isn't much we can do about those feelings. In fact, when you live in a city, you could walk past a dozen or so perfect candidates for your future partner on your morning commute.

Unfortunately, you're in too much of a rush - and no one really wants to be chatted up by a stranger on the bus anyway.

There are enough people out there for you to have your love-at-first-sight moment with a complete stranger at some point, but there's a much smaller chance that you bump into them before this. Yet that's exactly what happened to this married couple, whose paths crossed 11 years before they got together, although they didn't discover the connection until this month.

Mr. Ye found discovered himself in an old holiday photo of his wife, Ms. Xue, taken in Qingdao in 2000. Both of them were taking a vacation in the city, with Ye traveling there with a tour group and his wife visiting with her mother.

Going back home, he found his own holiday photo, taken on July 28 2000, which showed a 17-year-old Mr Ye posing in front of the same landmark.

When you see the pictures, it's easy to match up the pose of the boy in the background of Xue's photo with Ye's own photo, seemingly taken at the same time, in his blue t-shirt with his hands behind his back.

Apparently, the couple made the discovery when he was tidying the study room at his mother-in-law's house earlier this month. Speaking to Chengdu Business Daily, Mr Ye said: "I was looking at the picture where my wife was sitting in front of the May Four Square, there's also a man standing at far back. My reaction was: 'Oh wait, that was me!'"

The couple first (knowingly) met in 2011, more than a decade after their paths first crossed. When Mr. Ye returned to his hometown of Chengdu after graduating from university in Suzhou, they were introduced through mutual friends. One year later they were married, and even took their wedding photo in Qingdao.

Ms Xue told Chengdu Business Daily that she felt it was a miracle and was shocked by the power of fate displayed by this chance meeting. They shared the pictures with their friends and family, with everyone taking this news as a sign the two were destined to be together.

The couple planned to visit the port city of Qingdao again one day, once their twin daughters get a little older. They have said that they will keep the two pictures safe and cherish them for the rest of their lives. Now, whenever someone asks the couple how they first met, they'll definitely have an amazing story to tell.